60 Minutes latest casualty of Charter

Ditching 60 Minutes shows that the hatchet job on New
Zealand's favourite shows has started as TVNZ struggles with
the impossible task of preparing for the Charter with no
extra funding, National's Broadcasting spokesperson
Katherine Rich said.

"The Government told TVNZ it had to
reprioritise its programming budget and this slash is one of
the first examples of many to come.

"It was always clear
that the Charter was going to be implemented at the cost of
overseas sourced shows that New Zealanders love.

"The
irony is that the first show to be axed is one of the
world's top current affairs formats that sets international
benchmarks in quality reporting. 60 Minutes rates extremely
well and TVNZ's decision will mean more lost advertising
revenue.

"60 Minutes gave us a window to the world. It's
always been apparent that Marian Hobbs' broadcasting vision
has had difficulty looking beyond the New Zealand
lounge.

"If it's goodbye 60 Minutes, what next? Goodbye
Coronation St? TVNZ made it clear that the future of
overseas shows like Coro' could be affected by the Charter
- losing 60 Minutes is just the latest casualty," Mrs Rich
said.

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